Southie's Best Kept Secret
by Picklesand
Summary: Maura Doyle grew up raise by her mob boss father Patrick Doyle. At age 22, wanting to join the family business, she became employed by her father as a hitwoman. With stealth and skill, she quickly became one of her father's most valuable assets. Now fifteen years later, she faces the most risky and important assignment of her life.
1. Number 83

**Throwing this out there to see if anyone is interested. It's a short, hopefully it will wet your beak.**

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Maura Isles sat in her car smoking a cigarette. She watched the house where her current assignment resided. When the lights came on in the kitchen, Maura put out the cigarette in the ashtray and grabbed her binoculars. She watched her assignment as he made his dinner. "This will be the last meal he will ever have and he chose Hot Pockets," she thought to herself. When the target turned the lights off in the kitchen, he went into his living room. That's when Maura made her move. She got out of her car and approached the door of the house. She ringed the doorbell. He answered.

"Hello, Sir, I'm sorry to bother you but I have a flat tire, and my cell phone is dead. May I use your phone to call my roadside assistance?"

The man smiled. "A pretty lady such as yourself, shouldn't be stranded like this, do you want me to help you change your tire."

"I don't have a spare." Maura said with a shrug.

He let her in. Maura took a look around the house surveying her surroundings.

"May I use your bathroom?" She asked.

He nodded and gestured towards the door down the hall.

Maura entered the bathroom and went over the plan in her head. Even after fifteen years of being a hit woman, Maura needed to carefully think about each step. With a body count of eighty-one, Maura was good at what she did. No, she was exceptional, brilliant, effective and undetectable. She didn't have a signature, it would be too risky. In her younger years she thought about marking her targets in some way telling the world that the work was hers, but decided against it. She figured that vanity in this line of work was a sure fire way of getting caught and the point of being an assassin was to remain untouchable.

As Maura exited the bathroom the man pointed her in the direction of the phone then sat on the couch and watched television while he ate. Maura grabbed the phone dialed a familiar number placed the phone on the kitchen counter which was only a few feet away from her target. She quietly walked towards him approaching him from behind. In one quick motion she pulled a piano wire from her pocket and wrapped it around the man's neck pulling at the ends tightly. The struggle from the man was strong initially, but subsided after a mere couple of seconds, she was that good. When he finally expired Maura unravelled the wire from his neck and put it back in her pocket. Then she picked up the phone "It's done." She hung up and quickly left the house, got into her car and drove away.

/

Maura entered her favorite bar in Southie, Franklin's Pub. She walked up to the bar and greeted the bartender."

"Hello Horace," she said with a smile.

"Hey, Maura, your usual?"

"You know me too well." She responded, as she watched Horace place a bottle of Balvenie 21 and a scotch glass with three chilled whiskey stones on the bar. She took three, hundred dollar bills from her clutch and placed them on the bar. She grabbed the bottle of scotch and the glass and made her way to the back of the pub to her favorite corner spot. As she sat down she heard her favorite Italian opera being played. She looked over at Horace and smiled in a gesture of thanks. She took out a her journal.

Maura sat at the back of the bar relaxing with her thoughts, writing, and drinking her scotch. She had been there for nearly an hour when her father walked in and sat down at the opposite side of the booth. He took out three stacks of hundred dollar bills totaling thirty thousand dollars, and handed them to his daughter who had yet to make eye contact with him. "That was a nice touch with the phone call, thank God for burner phones eh?" He stated attempting to start a conversation.

She grabbed the money from the table quickly fanning through it then put it away her coat pocket.

Without looking at her father she spoke. "You know how I like to be alone after completing an assignment, this couldn't have waited until tomorrow?"

"I came for a different reason." Paddy Doyle pulled out a manila folder and pushed it towards Maura.

Maura glanced at the folder and then shoved it back towards her father. "It's too soon, I need a break."

"You're going to want to see this." He pushed the folder towards her again this time closer than the last.

Maura finally looked at her father and narrowed her eyes, she opened the folder. "Who is she?"

"She's the one. The one who killed your brother." Paddy responded.

Maura looked at the photo of the woman. "She's a cop."

"Detective." Paddy corrected.

Maura continued to glance over the file. "This seems a little risky."

"You're telling me you're not up to it?"

"That's not what I said."

"So, you're in?"

"Yes dad, Detective Jane Rizzoli is as good as dead."

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**Keep going or forget about it? Reviews are welcome. Be well and have a splendid day :)**


	2. Bloody Nose

**Hello, thank you all for your reviews, follows, favorites, or general interest in this story. This chapter may feel a bit awkward as I am still trying to find my footing with this story. I have a couple ideas in my head. My chapters maybe on the short side but I think that just tends to be my style. Hope you enjoy :) Also tried with grammar and spelling, I apologize in advance for an errors.**

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After her father had left, Maura sat at the bar and continued drinking. She put her journal away and dedicated her full attention to the file. She had an address, a work schedule, and other personal information like what days her target goes to the gym. This would give her a means of surveilling her to determine the best time to make the kill. She spent a lot of time just staring at the detective's picture. The longer she looked at the it, the more she hated the woman. Her brother may have made bad choices, been impulsive, and disrespectful to authority, but he was just a kid, he didn't deserve to die. She remained at the bar until well after close studying the information. Maura didn't leave until Horace was ready to lock up and go home. She was rather intoxicated, drinking over half the entire bottle of scotch, but hid it well, Horace didn't even consider taking her keys.

When Maura got home she placed the file on her coffee table and poured herself another glass of scotch. She became angrier, and dark thoughts loomed in her mind. She started to consider torturing her target, she wanted the punishment to fit the crime, and to her the detective needed to suffer. After two more glasses of scotch Maura passed out on her couch.

/

The phone on the bedside table rang and vibrated furiously.

The woman sleeping next to it let out a loud groan, got up, and answered. "Rizzoli." She sighed. "Yeah, I'll be right there."

Jane glanced at her alarm clock which read 4:35am. "Well, two hours of sleep is better than none." She got out bed and got dressed. She grabbed her badge and her gun, then got in her car to go to the crime scene.

When she arrived she was greeted by her partner. "You look like hell."

"Thanks, Korsak, no wonder why you have so much luck with the ladies." She replied with mild annoyance.

Korsak shrugged.

"What do we got?" Jane asked, followed up by a silent yawn as she entered the house with her partner.

Jane heard the familiar voice of the medical examiner. "Male victim, mid-forties to early fifties, appears to have asphyxiated. The lines around the neck indicate the use of a garrote."

Korsak looked confused.

Jane rolled her eyes at the medical examiner, then addressed Korsak. "It's just a fancy name for handheld ligature used to strangle someone."

"Why couldn't she just say that?" Korsak whispered to Jane.

"Because she's a show off." Jane said a little louder so the medical examiner could hear.

The medical examiner continued, ignoring the conversation between her fellow colleagues . "Marks on the tips of the fingers indicate a struggle. The food particles in his mouth and on his shirt suggest that he was eating during the attack." She picked up one of the food particles with a pair of tweezers. "Green peppers, provolone cheese, chopped steak and flaky bread like substance."

"Cheesesteak Hot Pocket." Jane said feigning boredom and impatience with the medical examiners rant.

The medical examiner finally looked up at the detective. "You look exhausted."

"It's five in the morning, what aren't you people understanding about this?" Jane threw up her hands in frustration.

The medical examiner looked at Korsak. "Cranky too."

Jane walked out of the house clearly frustrated with her partner and the medical examiner.

"Perhaps we were too harsh." The medical examiner said to Korsak. Then she told her team to bag the body for transport back to the morgue. She took her gloves off and walked outside to meet Jane who was sitting on the step. The medical examiner took the spot next to her and put her hand on Jane's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I didn't get any sleep. I had the dream again, except this time, I saved him. When I woke up that's when the nightmare began." Jane responded.

The medical examiner started tear up as she began to rub her colleague's back. "I'm sorry, Jane."

Jane rested her head on the medical examiner's shoulder. "What if I'm not cut out for this anymore Hope?"

"Jane, you're a great detective. Frankie's death wasn't your fault, you need to stop blaming yourself, you did everything you could. You saved the lives of a mother and her son that night when you shot and killed the bastard."

"But I was too late for him."

Their moment was interrupted by Korsak who was ready to get back to the station to work on the case with the information that had been gathered.

/

Back at the station Jane was struggling to stay awake at her desk while going through the evidence despite having several cups of coffee. At noon she received a call from Hope to go down to the morgue.

When she went down there, she saw the medical examiner diligently working on their victim.

"You get an ID?" She asked.

Hope looked up at the detective. "You look pale, have you eaten yet?"

Jane shrugged. "The ID?"

Hope frowned and walked over to the computer. "Seamus O'Malley, forty-nine, he was a dock worker, at the Port of Boston. I can confirm that the death was a result of asphyxiation."

Jane turned to get ready to leave. "I'm going to grab Korsak and head down there for questioning."

Hope looked at her watch. "They'd be on lunch at this time, maybe we should grab something too."

Jane sighed and surrendered to the medical examiner's request. "Yeah, okay, I guess I should eat something."

/

The two walked into the Dirty Robber because Jane wanted a quick lunch so she could return to the case. Burying herself in her work was the only thing that she felt kept her sane.

As the two sat at a booth, they had no idea they were being watched. Maura sat at the corner of the bar noticing the detective when she arrived. She was struck for a second by the detective's beauty, the photo that she had did not do her justice. This only lasted for a brief moment, she was there for a reason. Under different circumstances the assassin was confident that she'd have the detective on her back screaming her name, as she was exceptional at other things too. Unfortunately for the detective this would not be the case. She watched the detective eat and make small talk with the other woman. Maura was hungover from the day before so she needed to drink to combat the pounding headache that plagued her. The Dirty Robber did not carry her brand of scotch so she was forced to drink a much cheaper brand which disgusted her. After imbibing three glasses she started to feel better but had to go to the bathroom. When she was finished in the restroom she was hit in the face by the door while exiting. She felt a sharp pain radiate from her nose, followed by the warmth of her blood trickling from it. She heard the woman who opened the door start to apologize profusely.

"Oh my God, are you okay, I'm so sorry." The woman entered the bathroom and grabbed a fist full of paper towels handing them to Maura.

When Maura looked up she realized that she was now looking into the eyes of her target. She was speechless and she panicked, the only time her other targets saw her was right before they died, and for this target, it was neither the time or the place to make it happen.

Jane was panicking too, she didn't mean to hurt anyone, and the woman's lack of response worried her. "Stay here, my friend is a doctor, she can take a look at it." Jane quickly exited the bathroom to get Hope.

Maura, knowing that she needed to leave, made a quick and quiet exit as her target went to get help for her. She got in her car and quickly sped away. She drove for a few blocks before pulling over. When she parked the car she had a bit of a meltdown.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck." She screamed as she hit her steering wheel. She then pulled down her vanity mirror to see the extent of the damage which was not as bad as she thought. Maura was clearly more upset about being made than anything else. She returned to her home to formulate a new plan.

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**OReviews are welcome. Be well and have a splendid day.**


	3. The Long Game

**Hello all, thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews. So I'm think I know where I'm going with this story, for now anyway. If this chapter seems a little dry it's because it's a set up for the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. All grammatical mistakes are my own and I apologize in advance.**

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Jane walked back to the table and tapped her colleague on the shoulder."Hope, come to the bathroom with me, there's a woman in there that's bleeding from her nose and needs your help.

"What's happened?" Hope stood up and grabbed her bag.

"I accidentally hit her in the face with the door." Jane said under her breath.

Hope rolled her eyes and looked at Jane as if to say "not again." "It's because you barrel through every door you enter, you really are a bull in a china shop Rizzoli."

"Noted." Jane replied trying to rush Hope along.

When they got to the bathroom they saw that it was empty.

Jane put her thumb and forefinger up to her nose, slightly pinching the bridge and closing her eyes. She let out a sigh. "She's gone. I hope she's okay." She threw up her hands. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

Hope looked around the bathroom. "You said she bleeding from her nose?"

"Yeah, she was practically gushing. Why?"

"Well, I'm sure she wasn't gushing, Jane, she would've passed out from the blood loss."

"Just answer my question. God, can anything ever be simple with you?"

"No need to be testy, you asked for my help remember?"

"HOPE." Jane said loudly and in frustration.

"There's no blood."

"What?"

"If she was bleeding as much as you said she was, there would be evidence of it somewhere."

"Maybe she cleaned up."

"... And took it with her? There are no bloody paper towels in the trash can."

"That's weird."

"Are you sure she was even here?"

"Yes, Hope, I'm not seeing things."

"Okay, okay, I'm just checking. Let's look around the bar, see if she's still here.

The two exited the bathroom and looked around the bar to no avail. Then they returned to the table to finish their meals.

"Give me your wrist," Hope said as she noticed something on Jane's sleeve as she bit into her burger.

Jane did as the medical examiner asked.

Hope took Jane's hand examining a stain on her sleeve. "You handed her paper towels right?"

"Yeah?"

"I think she got some of her blood on you when she took them. I'll get some club soda to get that out." Hope put up her other hand to signal the waiter.

Jane glanced at Hope's watch when her wrist was in Hope's hand. "No time. I have to go. They'd be done lunch by now. I'm going to grab Korsak and head to the docks." Jane put some money down on the table.

"Hold on, wait. Caillin is picking Julianna up from school today, are you two staying for dinner?"

"Depends how much homework she has, and I'm going to that group thing tonight."

"I could have Cailin do it with her, you get out at seven, she should be done by then."

"Alright fine we'll stay, now I've got to go." Jane turned around to leave.

"Jane?"

The detective stopped. "Yes?"

"I'm glad you are still going to that bereavement group."

"It's nice to have the support of others going through the same thing, as shitty as it is."

"I wish, they had these groups years ago. I think it would have helped me." Hope said frowning, taking a sip of her tea.

Jane walked back to her friend and put her hand on the doctor's shoulder. "I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for you."

"It was tough, I got through it, I'd never thought I'd be a mom again, but then Cailin came along. She saved me."

"She's a wonderful kid and she's really great with Julianna. You're a good mother, Hope, I want you to know that." Jane hugged the medical examiner then exited The Dirty Robber.

/

Maura walked into her house and immediately went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw that her nose was slightly out of place but again no where near as bad as she had originally thought. She popped it back into place without even the slightest grimace. The scotch prevented her from feeling any pain. Then Maura went to her kitchen and grabbed a ziplock bag and filled it with ice. She walked into her living room and plopped down on the couch, putting the bag of ice on her face. Maura knew exactly how to treat her broken nose suffering many in her life time. In her late teens and early twenties she was dubbed the "queen of the bar brawls" often beating up men twice her size. She looked at the picture on her coffee table which showed her and her brother with bloodied fists shown proudly after her brother's first bar fight. He was seventeen and she was twenty- nine. "Don't worry Colin, I'll get the bitch."

Then she heard a key turning, unlocking her door and the voice of her father as he entered. "Maura?"

"This is not what I fucking need right now," Maura thought to herself. "I'm in here dad."

Paddy walked in the living room to see his daughter on the couch with ice on her nose. He chuckled "Another bar fight? You just can't help yourself can you? He laughed. "What's the other guy look like?"

"It wasn't a fight."

"What happened."

"She did it, and she saw me."

"You took care of it right?"

"No. It wasn't exactly the most opportune moment."

"Jesus Christ Maura, you blew it."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, I guess I can have one of my guys rig a car bomb."

"No, I want this."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"I'm going to have to play the long game, I guess, earn her trust, make it look like an accident. I don't know I haven't really thought about it yet, all of this happened less than an hour ago."

"That's a terrible idea, you're going to have to lie."

"Not necessarily."

"This would be a con job, Maura, and that's what a con is."

"She's not going to flat out ask me if I plan on killing her, last time I checked normal people don't do that. Don't worry I can handle it."

"You're really taking a gamble by doing this, are you sure your going to be able to get the job done?"

"I always get the job done, don't I?"

"This is different. You are going to need to be more careful. Don't get lost in this. You've been warned." Then Paddy left.

Maura knew that her new approach was out of her comfort zone. She had to find a way to befriend the detective in an authentic and natural way so she would not raise suspicion. Surveillance on the detective would now have to turn into a full time job so that she could find a way into the detective's life. Maura considered her previous thoughts of torture and considered a hard betrayal as an equivalent and more personal alternative.

/

Jane and Korsak entered the Port of Boston and found the shift supervisor.

Korsak addressed the man. "Harold Madigan?"

"Who wants to know?" He took a look at the both of them. "No non-employees on the docks." He continued with an annoyed tone.

"Boston homicide" Jane replied as she and Korsak showed their badges.

"Oh yeah, what do you want?"

Jane held up a photo. "You recognize this man?"

The shift supervisor took the photo looked at it briefly and handed it back to the detective. "Yeah, that's O'Malley, he didn't show up for work today, tell him he's fired."

"That's the least of his concerns, considering that he's dead." Korsak responded.

The shift supervisor just shrugged.

"You don't seem surprised." Jane said looking to her partner then looking back at Harold.

"I'm not, he pissed off a lot of people, owed money to almost everyone. O'Malley had a gambling problem. If you ask me, he had it coming."

"Do you know the names of anyone he owes money to?" Korsak asked.

"I don't pay attention to any of that shit, as far as I'm concerned that's his business."

"Did he owe you any money?" Jane asked.

"Hell no, I'm smart enough to not get involved in others financial affairs. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work." Harold walked away from the detectives.

"Well, that was a bust." Jane said.

"I think he's hiding something, we'll come back later when we have more evidence." Korsak replied.

The two went back to the station and worked on the case until it was time to leave for the day.

/

Maura followed Jane as the detective drove to a small church to attend her bereavement group meeting. Maura parked her car across the street grabbed her binoculars watching the detective as she walked inside. When the detective was out of sight, the assassin took note of the surroundings, with her focus soon falling on the sign in front of the church. "Bereavement group?" It was as if a light bulb went on above her head. "This is perfect, it's personal, emotional, and I won't have to lie." Maura took a bag of tobacco and rolling papers from her bag, and rolled a perfect cigarette. She lit it, and took a hard drag, then exhaled as she got out of her car approaching the building, leaving a large plume of smoke in her wake.

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**Reviews are welcome. Be well and have a splendid day**


	4. Smoke Ring

**I want to start by saying thank you for all of the reviews, follows, favorites, and anyone who took the time to read this story in general. I truly appreciate it. I also want to apologize for length of time it took for me to update, work stress and writers block is never a good combination. I hope I haven't lost anyone. I also apologize in advance for any grammatical mistakes. Here is chapter four hope you enjoy.**

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Maura stood at the bottom of the steps of the church smoking, she watched as others entered. People looked at her, but no one said anything. After a few more drags, Maura flicked her cigarette beside her feet, then she used the stiletto of her heel to extinguish the cherry.

Upon entering Maura was greeted by a woman who was sitting at fold out table. Maura overheard her direct the woman in front of her to a support group for the recently divorced. When it was Maura's turn, the woman took one look at her and made an immediate judgement based on her appearance.

"Hello, dear, the group for physically abusive partners is tomorrow evening, same time," she started to write the information on a sticky note.

Maura was insulted that the woman thought she was the target in an abusive relationship. She grabbed her wrist forcefully and startled her, but didn't hurt her. "That's not why I'm here."

"Oh I'm so sorry please forgive me, it was your nose, a lot of the women... And men that come here for that group are so afraid to say it that... I try to make it easier by saying it for them," the woman responded nervously. "How can I help you?"

Maura looked at the list on the bulletin board wanting to get the full and appropriate name of the group, as there were so many that were very specific. Her eyes fell on the fifth group from the top. "Bereavement group for a murdered sibling."

"I'm sorry for your loss, that meeting starts in ten minutes, room B-6 in the basement."

Maura had no intentions of being early or even on time to the meeting. She wanted her target to be caught off guard by her appearance and at the same time not able to approach her. Although she wanted and knew she would succeed at making her target nervous, she was nervous too, and needed to find a way to calm down. Realizing that she had some time, Maura ducked into the bathroom, which she was thankful was private. She got out her journal and flipped to a random entry, in times of stress, reading about times she was in control, always made her feel better.

#64

Today was the day. I had followed this guy for two months. Everyday he ate an entire pound of bacon and five eggs for breakfast. His shortened life was imminent, as a heart attack would have claimed him within five years. I'm not really sure what he did to have to have me kill him, I never ask, my father mentioned something about him being responsible for the rampant cocaine use in our high schools. If that's true maybe he deserved it, who am I to judge, I was just doing my job.

In the early morning hours of September 14, 2010, I entered the home of #64. He thought I was the hooker he paid for, but I caught her as she was walking up to the house, and paid her five times what he paid. Then I told her to go to a diner to grab breakfast to kill sometime, so her pimp wouldn't suspect anything. I assume she followed my instructions, but who knows?

Pretending to be a hooker is one of least favorite ways to lure a kill. It never goes beyond kissing but, every target I've ever had to kiss was sloppy and too forceful. No wonder why they have to pay for it. When I got him to the bedroom, I pushed him down on the bed and straddled him, which he seemed to enjoy. He started to loosen his tie but I stopped him. Instead I told him that I found ties to be "sexy" and that I wanted him to leave it on. I unbuttoned his shirt and took it off of him. Then I had him sit up as I tied his hands behind is back with the shirt and then lay him back down. I kissed him on the lips one last time as I was feeling particularly generous that day. Then in one quick motion I grabbed his tie and pulled, strangling him. It was taking a while, so I freed one of my hands momentarily and grabbed a pillow to put over his face. Holding the tie with one had and a pillow with the other, I managed to rid him from oxygen once and for all.

When she finished reading, she reached into her purse and pulled out a flask. She took a couple of swigs. She always had to drink after completing an assignment, but sometimes she felt the need to drink after only reading about them. When she put her flask away she noticed that she was almost ten minutes late for the meeting. "Perfect," she thought to herself.

Maura glanced at herself in the mirror, she was thankful that she had gotten to her broken nose in time, that the swelling was minimal and that her eyes didn't blacken as well. Even with the broken nose she was very attractive. After fixing her hair and make up she was ready to make her entrance in room B-6.

Maura entered B-6 quietly but noticeable. Silence had fallen upon the room as the entire group of twelve watched her make her way to the coffee station and pour herself a cup. It was almost as if everyone was under a spell. Jane noticed her immediately which made her anxious and she started fidgeting, especially her hands. Although this was her intention, Maura was annoyed by the attention she garnered because it prevented her from spiking her coffee. "This is going to be a long meeting of whiners, it's a shame I'm going to have to endure it sober," she thought.

Finally the leader of the group spoke. "Are you here for the bereavement group?"

"Yes," Maura responded as she watched one of the men grab a chair for her placing it in between himself and another woman, directly across from Jane.

"Well we started ten minutes ago, but since it is your first time, I'll excuse the lateness," the leader continued. "We were just about to start sharing."

Maura sat down quickly in the spot intended for her. A woman three seats to her left began to speak.

"Hey everyone, for anyone new here, I'm Dana. I haven't shared in a couple of months and I see some new faces, so I'll start from the beginning. Four years ago, my brother, Keith was killed by one of his students because he gave the kid a detention. The kid arrived before school for his detention and shot my brother in the chest with his father's gun. The doctors said it was quick and painless, that he bled out in mere seconds. He was discovered by his honors first period English class, his favorite class. The kid who shot him was fourteen." She paused for a second and took a couple of breaths. The man sitting next to her reached out and held her hand.

Then she continued. "I remember my sister in law called me. I knew something was wrong. I couldn't understand her, at first I thought there was something wrong with the baby, she was six months pregnant at the time. She just kept saying, "he's gone." It wasn't until she asked me to drive her to the police station that I even considered it being Keith. Even though the ride to the station lasted ten minutes, it felt like an eternity. I remember when the medical examiner showed us his body, my sister in law broke down completely. Seeing him on that table destroyed me, he was a good man, he was loved, how could anyone do this?" Dana paused again, this time crying. The woman sitting on her other side offered her some tissues and put her hand on her shoulder.

Jane sat across from this woman remembering the case. She wasn't on it and neither was Hope as it was a conflict of interest because the man was Cailin's English teacher. She remembered Korsak and Frost having a hard time with it though.

When Dana regained her composure she continued. "This week is difficult, and I wanted to share because the kid who shot him is getting released this Saturday, when he turns eighteen. I spoke against his release at his parole hearing but, his uncle is a judge so I guess that's that. He has his whole life ahead of him and that makes me angry, he robbed my nephew of his father, and destroyed a couple of lives that day. Why should he get a second chance?"

After a few moments of silence Jane spoke. "I often wonder that myself in my line of work. Why these people, that do horrible things, get to live and go back to their families after shattering another's."

"But you got revenge on yours," a man interrupted her.

Maura finally perked up at this verbal exchange as she quickly became bored with Dana's story.

Jane was caught off guard but managed to formulate a response. "Killing the man who killed my brother accomplished nothing."

"Yeah but I bet it felt good to take that piece of garbage down," he responded.

Maura shot the man a look of disdain but no one noticed as they were too focused on his interactions with Jane.

"First of all, it wasn't an act of revenge, it was an act of self defense and protection of innocent third parties. Second of all, killing someone never feels good, the few times I've done have really affected me adversely. And third of all, killing him didn't bring my brother back, so nobody won."

Maura was a bit intrigued that her target also had a body count, but certainly would have disagreed with he notion that killing someone doesn't feel good. For Maura murder was right up there with orgasms in terms of how great it feels.

The group leader awkwardly broke in, "Well we've reached our end time. Let's close our meeting." Everybody stood up and held hands, Maura reluctantly joined. The leader spoke, "We ask God that we find a way to make peace with our tragedies, while trying to preserve the memory of our loved ones and learning to forgive." The group aside from Maura responded, "One day at a time."

Maura rushed out of the room fairly certain that her target would follow her. She quickly walked outside and went to her car across the street. She grabbed her tobacco and rolling papers and managed to roll a cigarette and light it by the time Jane had found her.

"Hello, I'm Jane " the brunette said nervously extending her hand to the honey blonde.

Maura stared at her through sunglassed eyes. "Out with it then."

"Excuse me," Jane responded.

"Your apology, of course," Maura lowered her sunglasses so she was able to make eye contact with Jane, "You are sorry, aren't you?"

Jane was put off by the woman's attitude. "Um... I apologized when it happened."

"Oh you did, did you? Well I guess I was so caught off guard by rude behavior of barging through doors without knocking that I forgot," she blew smoke directly in Jane's face.

Jane used her hand to fan the smoke away from her face. "You know smoking is bad for you?"

"Well so is standing near a door when you're on the opposite side," Maura responded before blowing a perfect smoke ring in Jane's direction.

Jane poked the center of the ring. "That's actually pretty cool. I believe we started off on the wrong foot, so let me try again. I'm Jane and I'm sorry for breaking your nose."

Maura narrowed her eyes and tilted her head from side to side, mulling over accepting the apology. She liked keeping the other woman in suspense. After a few moments she responded, "Apology accepted."

"Well I have to get going, I promised my niece that I'd be home in time for dinner tonight." Jane got out a piece of paper and wrote her number on it. "Here is my number, if you ever want to talk, sometimes when you are new it's easier to share with one person than an entire group."

Maura took the piece of paper and got into her car. "Thanks." She started the engine.

As Jane turned to walked back to her car she realized something. "I never got your name," she called out to the honey blonde.

"It's Maura," the honey blonde responded and then she sped away.

Jane got into her car soon after, and drove to her friend's house for dinner.

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**Reviews are always appreciated. Be well and have a splendid day :)**


	5. Refocus

**Thank you for any follows or favorites. Here is chapter 5, I apologize for any errors in advance. I hope you enjoy. **

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When Maura arrived home from the meeting, she took her shoes off and placed them carefully by the door. She walked to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a glass of scotch. Her father was sitting on the couch in the living room behind her.

"Are you having fun?"

Maura stopped dead in her tracks. "And you're here because," Maura said in an annoyed tone while rolling her eyes.

"Is that any way to treat your dear old dad?"

"Hey, you're the one who came to my house uninvited."

"Just checking on your progress is all. This is new and different for you, I'm just making sure you stay on task."

"Wow, it hasn't even been a whole day and you're already giving me shit, a new record dad, you should be proud of yourself," Maura narrowed her eyes and stated sarcastically.

"With good reason my dear girl," he paused, "You like this one."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Maura shrugged.

"You really are shit at lying," Paddy said as he walked to Maura's liquor cabinet and helped himself to the rest of her scotch. He pointed at her accusingly, "You were making eyes at that detective, flirting with her, with your cool demeanor, a trait you most certainly got from me."

"You were watching me?"

"We'll not me, but I had someone sitting in on the meeting too."

"You're impossible."

"And you're dangerously close to fucking this up, if what my source says is accurate. I suggest you nip this in the bud tonight Chickie, or I'll find someone else who will. And God help you if you happen to be in the way," he finished the class of scotch and left.

Maura sat in her favorite chair and took a deep breath, she knew what her father said was true, she had to squash these feelings before they became problematic.

/

Jane arrived at Hope's house just in time for dinner, she let herself in and was immediately greeted by her ten year old niece, Julianna, who was very excited to see her.

"Bug," the little girl cried as she got up from her drawing and hugged her aunt.

"Hey, Juls, am I happy to see you," Jane responded, lifting the little girl from the ground.

"Hi, Jane," Cailin said, momentarily lifting her head from her studies.

"Hey, Cailin, test tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately."

"Great timing," Hope said as she started fixing plates for the four of them. "Alright everyone, dinner is ready." She started placing the plates at the four settings. "Come on Cailin, books away, Julianna, find a place for your drawings before they become covered in meatloaf gravy." The girls did as Hope asked.

They four sat down and ate, with the two younger girls discussing what they did that day. Julianna mainly talked about a history project in which she has to dress up and give a presentation as one of the First Ladies. She seemed to be torn between wanting to be Sarah Polk or Edith Wilson. Cailin tried to talk about a dissection she did in class that day, but Hope stopped her, claiming that the other guest might not be comfortable hearing about guts while they ate. When they finished eating, Cailin and Julianna cleared the table.

"Okay well, I'm off to study," Cailin sighed, putting the last of the dishes in the sink.

"Can I help," Julianna asked with excitement.

"Uh maybe next time Juls, Cailin has a big test tomorrow," Jane said smiling at her niece.

"Actually she's a big help," Cailin interrupted.

"If it's okay with you Cai, it's fine with me."

"Yesssssss," the little girl responded fist bumping their air and running up the steps towards Cailin's room.

"Sure, she looks like she has all of this energy now, but just wait until she sees what I'm studying, she'll be out like a light," Cailin joked as she gathered her books to follow the little girl.

After the girls were gone, Jane helped Hope wash the dishes.

"So... I had an interesting meeting today," Jane offered while drying off a dish."

"Did that jerk who always insists that "you got your revenge" try and start an argument with you again?"

"No, well, yeah, but that's not the interesting part."

Hope looked at her with a face that conveyed "well what is it then?"

"She was there."

"Sherri, your ex, what was she doing there? Oh, I hope her sister didn't die, I liked her," Hope brought her hand to her heart.

"What? No, not Sherri," Jane responded looking at the woman like she was crazy.

"Well I'm sorry, but when you say "she", you usually mean "her."

Jane sighed and put her hand on her forehead, she was annoyed at her friend and made her next response through grit teeth. "Well I'm not talking about her this time."

"Good, because it's been nineteen months, you need to get over it."

"Oh, well I'm glad to see, that someone is keeping track," Jane responded sarcastically. "Will you let me continue?"

Hope gave her a "go ahead" hand gesture.

"The woman from earlier today, the one whose nose I broke, she was there."

"Oh yeah, did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, it was a weird conversation, she's actually kinda bitchy, but not necessarily in a mean way. I don't know, it's hard to describe."

"Well I guess I'd be a bit bitchy to the woman who broke my nose too. Speaking of that, you still have the blood on your sleeve, take off your shirt, I'll get the stain out."

"Take me out to dinner first," Jane joked as she took off her button down shirt.

"Honey, I made dinner, and if I were trying to woo you, you'd be wooed by now," Hope responded winking at her friend.

Jane's jaw dropped as she handed Hope her shirt.

"Oh was that too far? You're not the only one whose allowed to make jokes you know." Hope ran the sleeve of the shirt under cold water at the sink.

"Nice abs, Jane," Cailin said as she entered the kitchen heading for the fridge.

"That's enough you two."

Cailin looked at her mother and smiled as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, Hope smiled back and shrugged. "You're so easy to make uncomfortable, Jane."

As Cailin turned to go back up stairs, she remembered the other half of the reason she came down in the first place. "Oh Jane, Juls fell asleep."

"Ugh, I better go get her."

"Let her sleep here, we have to be in early tomorrow, Cailin will drive her to school," Hope looked at her daughter to make sure volunteering her for this task was okay.

"Yeah, I don't have class until ten, so I can definitely do that," she looked at her mother and Jane, "Well, I better get back to it." She went back upstairs to her room.

"So I gave her my number," Jane continued.

"But Sherri already has your number."

Jane looked at Hope like she wanted to wring her neck.

"Relax, I know you're talking about the woman whose nose you broke. So you think she's into you?"

"Oh my God, I gave her number so we could talk, jeez." Jane then smiled, "I hope so."

"You get a name?"

"Yeah," Jane paused. "It's Maura."

Hope's smile faded from her face. "Good name," she paused, "Are you spending the night?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to go home and clean. I'm always better at cleaning late at night and with Juliana here, I can run the vacuum."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Hope hugged Jane as she left.

/

With midnight quickly approaching, Jane found herself to be even more restless, tossing and turning in her bed. She had spent the last two hours cleaning trying to avoid the thoughts that usually plagued her when she was by herself. With the distraction of a messy apartment now gone, her mind raced and she couldn't seem to relax. She just kept replaying the day that Frankie died in her head over and over again. Suddenly her phone rang, Jane answered promptly, thankful for the interruption.

"Hello."

"Jane, it's Maura, from the meeting today, do you remember me?"

"Yes, of course I remember you."

"Did I wake you?"

"No, I am still awake, I can't seem to fall asleep."

"Me either, would you want to meet up and talk?"

"Now?"

"Yeah, you said that you can't fall asleep anyway, right?"

"Okay fine, where at?"

"The place where you broke my nose this afternoon."

Jane winced at Maura's words reminding her of the sting of embarrassment she endured by breaking the woman's nose. "Okay, hey I owe you a drink for that."

"Yeah, you do, see you there in fifteen minutes."

/

Maura sat in her bedroom packing the supplies she needed for the night. She hadn't decided on the method yet, so she packed a few options: guitar strings; butcher knife; and a cork screw, a twisted variation of her father's signature ice pick. When she finished she got in her car and made her way to the Dirty Robber to complete her assignment.

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**I plan on picking up where I left off. Reviews are welcome. Be well and have a splendid day.**


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